Research and Teaching InterestsDr. Jose Barreto conducts research on radicals, oxidants, biocides and chemical education.

In the past, Dr. Barreto has published in the field of acid permeability across artificial membranes, and on the role of free radicals and oxidants in the pathogenesis of ulcers in the gut. He has taught many generations of students at a variety of academic levels including, lower division, upper division, graduate and post-doctoral students; he has been employed as a full time faculty member at a community college, university and a medical school. During his tenure at FGCU (1998-present), he established an active undergraduate research program that is now focused on investigating the production of radicals and oxidants produced by a titanium oxide photocatalytic system. The aim of this “green chemistry” project is to develop new technologies for sterilizing and destroying germs and biological toxins without creating persistent environmental hazards. Dr. Barreto is also actively involved curricular reform in chemistry and in designing new labs for undergraduate chemistry students; he is the principal author (with his Chemistry faculty colleagues as co-authors) of the FGCU lab manual for General Chemistry I&II.

Some recent examples of scholarly work

The destruction of a Sudan IV, an azo dye target, in a CTAB micelle: A model for the destruction of photocatalytic biological toxins in the hydrophobic core of a cell membrane. Jose C. Barreto Ph.D., Cristina Coates, Ph.D.; Wllliam Caldwell and Patricia Barreto, B.S. In preparation, January 2007